User: Vo (Rating: 4/5)
Date: November 16, 2023
Just finished reading through the Dragonslayer sample. This looks to be a B/X retroclone with ADnD influences, not too dissimilar to Advanced Labyrinth Lord and OSE Advanced.
Some critiques:
-The Game Master is called Maze Controller, which just doesn't roll off the tongue as well. I don't foresee anyone in the hobby suddenly switching from DM or GM to... MC. Sounds like Master of Ceremonies for a party or something. Should just stick with Game Master.
-Race and Class are separate. I prefer race-as-class, personally, for that traditional D&D Old School low fantasy feel from the red boxed sets. However, each race is restricted to certain classes and certain level caps in those classes. This appears to be a sort-of in between for race-as-class.
-The following classes appear to be in the game: Cleric, Fighter, Magic-User, Thief, Assassin, Ranger, Paladin. (And possibly some kind of Western Monk, per interviews on YouTube). I hope that the Ranger, Assassin, and Paladin have more interesting mechanics and concepts than in other similar games. In the past, these classes have felt like "Fighter but better with bows," "Thief but deadlier," or "Cleric but with a two-handed sword." Maybe it would make more sense to have the traditional 4 classes be the main archetypes and have options or abilities under each archetype to flesh out these others like "sub classes?" I don't know the right answer, but sometimes classes are so similar to others that it just feels like it bloats the game. A Fighter could be flavored as a bunch of different things like: Barbarian, Soldier, Beast Master, Cavalier, Duelist, etc. with just a couple different unique abilities.
-As another commenter here pointed out, the Cyclopsman has -1 to three different attributes, but no positives... Why would anyone choose this race? I have to believe that this is an error and is missing a +1 or +2 to the Strength or Constitution abilities.
-The Elf and Halfling races have a weapon restriction that says they cannot wield two-handed weapons. I would just specify "two-handed melee weapons," to avoid confusion. The Gnome race, though, specifies that they cannot use "great or two-handed weapons." Does this mean they cannot wield a "Greatbow?" And since Halflings don't have the "great weapon" restriction. Does this mean they actually can wield greatbows? Why would a greatbow be too big for a Gnome but not a Halfling?
-The racial languages sections are kind of inconsistent. For example, the Dwarf automatically knows Dwarven, and can choose another language, like Common, Gnome, Goblin, etc. Does this mean we have to roleplay games where our characters have communication issues because they don't all automatically know common? Why not have each race know Common + their racial language + additional languages per their INT score? That's what it says for the Elf race already. When I look at the Gnome race, it says that Gnomes automatically start with Gnomish, and "may select dwarf, halfling, orc, goblin, or kobold, if their intelligence modifier allows." Why isn't Common listed here? Can Gnomes not learn Common? Why is it listed for the Dwarf but not for the Gnome? These are the kinds of inconsistencies I'm talking about.
Things I like:
-The roleplay guides are great. I've always enjoyed characters that embrace the fantasy genre stereotypes. While there's always room for growth and change, the classic racial differences become muddied and pointless when everyone is just a human wearing a [insert fantasy race] skin-suit. The roleplay guides help to counter that trend.
-I have watched some YouTube interviews with Dr. Gillespie and he has mentioned how awesome the artwork is going to be. I am very excited for this. Nothing brings a TTRPG book down quicker than bad artwork, even if the game mechanics themselves have some good ideas. A big trend in the industry lately has been to make the artwork either too realistic, colorful, cheerful, or cartoonish. I miss the old school ink and line art. And I miss 1980's charm of classic fantasy box art styles of Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell, etc. Or even the haunting paintings of Brom. It sounds like this product will fully embrace these old school art forms!
Anyways, I think this is shaping up to be a great game and I can't wait to see more. My critiques are honestly just little nitpicks, and I'm aware this is just a rough-draft/preview and not representative of the final product.
